Welch pitches Gorman to baseball tourney title

Every baseball team can use an ace.

Cory Welch looks the part for Bishop Gorman.

Welch threw a two-hitter Saturday to lead the Gaels to a 10-1 win over Newbury Park (Calif.) in the championship game of the Bishop Gorman Easter Classic.

"I think he is our guy right now," Gorman coach Chris Sheff said. "Hopefully he'll continue to throw like that and be our No. 1. The other guys are kind of playing into form, too, and they're pitching pretty well. I like what's gone on with our pitching staff."

Welch was in control throughout, dominating with his fastball. He took a no-hitter into the fifth before giving up a leadoff single to Danny Keller. He allowed one more hit the rest of the way, and Newbury Park's run was unearned.

"Cory's been throwing the ball great, and we've been getting great outings from him," Sheff said. "And our offense has been coming to life a little bit now. We're just playing better baseball."

Welch pounded the strike zone, rarely throwing an offspeed pitch.

"I was spotting up real well today and didn't really go to offspeed (pitches) that much," he said. "Probably about 15 times max. The rest were fastballs."

The Panthers struggled to catch up with the hard stuff, as Welch struck out nine. He walked one and hit three.

"He pretty much settled in and was working both sides of the plate, which obviously made him effective," Sheff said. "We didn't have to go soft. We kind of were challenging guys today, and he was in command the whole way."

Welch helped himself early, singling home Johnny Sewald in the bottom of the first. He added a sacrifice fly in Gorman's two-run third as the Gaels took a 3-0 lead.

Gorman then broke loose offensively, scoring four runs in the fifth and three in the sixth.

"It seemed like early (in the season) most of our runs were just off home runs and we weren't getting any two-out hits and any key hits," Sheff said. "Now we're starting to hit up and down the lineup like we're kind of more used to."

Welch credited sophomore leadoff man Sewald, who was 2-for-3 with four runs and an RBI.

"Our leadoff guy is starting to put the ball in play more and doing his job," Welch said. "And one through nine, everybody's getting on base."

Welch was 3-for-3, and Johnny Field added two hits and two RBIs for Gorman.

Contact Prep Sports Editor Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4587.